Back
by thegreatbluespoon
Summary: Grissom's gone and Sara's back...post LLV


**Disclaimer: **Ah_, redundancy_…what fun!

**Spoilers: **I blather on about their lives, so... uh, if you've been living under a rock since 2000, then yeah, I've most likely ruined something for you.

**A/N: **I go with what sleep deprivation throws my way, so I, much like yourselves, never know what the heck is going to pop up. This is just a onsie…sorry its not comedy(though my mind did get away from me in a couple places). I know I do comedy better, so I do apologize if this whole serious thing isn't a goodie, let me know…I'm sure Em will.

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"Sara's back." Catherine announced through a sigh as she entered the break room

Nick, Warrick and Greg just met her with confused looks. Grissom had just left for a while, but Sara hadn't gone anywhere.

"Uh...we didn't know she'd left."

"No." she said and pointed at Sara coming down the hall "_Sara's _back."

All three men immediately knew just what Catherine had meant when they saw Sara. Oh yeah, she was back. She was walking through the halls of the lab with a look on her face that basically said _"Screw you, screw the world, lets burn something."_ The 'lovely' Sara that they had been so lucky to forget lately was most definitely back to gracing them with her presence.

"Shit." Was the only response Catherine got back.

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**It** had never been a secret around the lab. Everybody, other shifts included, knew that Sara had feelings for Grissom, and though it wasn't as painfully obvious to them all, everyone could still tell that Grissom had feelings for Sara as well.

The one thing that no one could ever seem to understand though, was why in the holy hell Grissom never did anything about it. Sara had tried, more than once. It almost seemed, to everyone else, as though Grissom got off on the twisted little mind fuck game that he played with her. That's what everyone had deemed it; the old man was playing a twisted little mind fuck game with the poor new girl.

Why not make a move? Hell, he had brought her here in the first place. He had asked her to stay and she had obliged. She did, dropped everything at a moments notice for him. For an eventual nothing, Sara had changed her life.

Nothing about those two made sense to anyone at all, not even those in the lab that were closest to them. Bugs? A _desire_ to go to the body farm? If they were anything, it was nothing but a crazy ass match made in an even more twisted heaven.

What really got people going about Grissom and Sara was money. Not Grissom and Sara's money, their own. Bet after bet and deadline after deadline and still no action between the two. Any time it came close to looking like something was about to go down, it was eventually attributed to that fucked up geek telepathy the two had going.

More of that twisted heaven stuff. Not one word needed to leave the lips of Sara or Grissom and the other still knew _exactly_ what the hell was going on. Unless you're at home on your couch, stuffing your face with popcorn and watching SciFi, where else is that big dose of freaky going down? Exactly…

Their constant dancing around each other, little touches, double entendres and those looks when they thought that the other wasn't paying attention (and everyone else in the lab just so happened to be)…enough to drive Tony Robbins up the crazy tree.

About a year after Sara first got to the lab, the betting had died down somewhat and attentions had turned elsewhere in the lab. It just got plain boring between those two. Grissom was either too big of a chicken shit to do something or their boss was just blatantly retarded. You decide; they all did.

A little over another half a year later and the…'relationship' had caught the rest of the lab's eye yet again. What was going on? Something was different. Something was…wrong?

Partnering on cases together was done considerably less. His fuse with her was shorter and shorter, as was her own with him. Hell, if Grissom so much as breathed wrong Sara's general direction anymore, well, heaven forbid you be the poor, undeserving soul that got placed as her partner that night. That very, _very_ long night.

For a seasoned investigator, observation was definitely not his strong suit. At least not when it came to Sara. When it came to her, his observational skills sucked worse than a ten dollar hooker. Constant bits of uncontrollable word vomit would find their way from his mouth and to her ears. His actions never failed to amaze even the newest lab tech that appeared to know Sara better than Grissom himself did.

The bet? – How long will it take for the beast to finally drive away the beauty? Catherine had made a trite little enemy in a dayshift lab tech. 825 dollars worth of angry lab tech actually. Catherine had told Grissom that he needed to get his head out of his microscope and do something about Sara. And angels sang while the clouds above spread, never shedding their silver lining because Gil Grissom had _made an effort_. A freaking plant, but an effort nonetheless. Sara was going to leave Vegas and the tech was going to win 825 dollars, but Catherine got the man to do something amazing. Not that it changed the moods any.

So things basically continued to suck royally around the lab for as long as anyone could remember. Strong efforts were made by all not to be in a room alone with the two. New bets were made. When would Grissom fire Sara? When would Sara decapitate Grissom? When will the violence go down? Just who will the innocent bystanders be?

Everyone had their theories and everyone had their money in. The pots were bigger for Sara killing Grissom than they were for her jumping his old bones when she first got to Las Vegas.

Whatever had taken them from their original happy and flirty selves and borne them into the spiteful and arrogant roles they now played with each other was completely lost on everyone else and beyond any understanding they had.

And so eventually, just like before, people placed their attention elsewhere in the lab. Attentions moved towards other things more useful of their time. Grissom and Sara at least became easy to ignore since they at least ignored each other. Every now and again a small bout of civility would bust through their bitter, frayed seams of disdain. The only reason and time this happened was, of course, when a façade needed to be slapped on during a case.

Catherine had grown damn tired of this, as had Nick, Warrick, Greg and Brass. Sara was like family to the four men, and though she and Catherine weren't exactly what one would call friends, Catherine still found it bogus the games they played- especially what Grissom's cluelessness did. He was apparently the only person blind enough not to see what it all was doing to her; eating her alive.

On more than one occasion Catherine had tried her pep talks with him, both in and out of the office. She figured '_Why the hell not? He listened once before. Still need to thank some deity for that.'_ Apparently once was all old man Grissom was capable of.

Time for another –one last- pep talk in her mind. Worst time for another living being to be sharing the same room with him, in his mind. He had just been stopped by Catherine in the halls of the lab. Goodie, because Sara just telling him not two minutes ago that he was eventually going to be too late for her wasn't quite the cherry on top of his night yet.

"I'm going to talk to Greg. You going to stop by Sara's and check on her?' she asked hopefully

Sara had just invited him to dinner. An invitation to which he had adamantly said 'no'. He had then been told by the woman he longed for that eventually his time was going to be up. How the hell was he supposed to go and show his face at her apartment?

"No." he snapped

"You don't need to be a dick with me!' she said shocked at his tone

"She's fine…doesn't need supervision constantly."

"No, but a friend- you know what Gil…screw it! You're an idiot you know! One of these days you are going to be too late with her and regret not having listened to me!" and she stomped off.

Twice now he had been told that he was going to be too late with Sara and yet…it had stirred nothing in him. He did nothing about it.

Catherine eventually stopped giving pep talks. What was the point? Sara didn't need them; she was trying, or had tried anyway. Why give them to Grissom anymore? He just ignored them- pity that such a genius was also such a fool.

Catherine hadn't been the only one trying with him though. Brass and a little liquid courage made an effort every now and then. Of course with Brass it was generally him telling Grissom that he was a complete dolt and that there was no way in holy hell there would ever be another woman around that would deal with the shit Sara had tolerated from him. Brass would tell him to wise up and do something and to do it soon and Grissom would pull out his mental quote book and fire back with something like "There are several good protections against temptation, but the surest is cowardice." Brass surprised him with "Was Mark Twain as big a coward as you?" Eventually Brass just went to Grissom as to have someone to get drunk with.

People were _pissed_ the day Sara finally snapped on Catherine and Ecklie. Four reasons-One because they weren't around to see Ecklie go down in the Sidle Flames. Two because no one had bet that Sara was going to go after Ecklie or Catherine. Three because Sara still had her job afterwards and four since Grissom still had a head connected to his body at work the next day. No bets were won.

Eventually everyone around the lab stopped questioning the intelligence of their supervisor in the matter and began to wonder about Sara. Why stick around? Why try? Its pretty obvious that, even though he does have feelings, he couldn't care less about acting on those feelings.

Spite, slight arrogance, near pity, ruefulness, disdain and all out awkwardness continued to float around the lab for the next few years between all members of the nightshift, especially those close to Grissom and Sara.

Greg was a trainee now. Every now and then that familiar façade was slapped on again and just when it seemed like they were actually getting along again…their brilliant acting skills were revealed. Never a major blowup, but a…shift nonetheless.

They would seem to get along and then Grissom would pair Sara with Greg whenever possible. Everyone noticed it. Was it because Greg needed the mentoring or because Grissom screwed something up-said something, done something wrong- when it came to Sara and needed to avoid her. Everyone went with the latter, it _was _a more reasonable choice; when it came to Sara, when was that man **_not_** royally screwing something up?

Sara could be a sweetheart when she wanted to be. Before Grissom went all…stupid, she never had to _try_, she just was a sweetheart. She never smiled anymore, not for real anyway. Ice cold glares were all to be expected from her now.

Then it happened. Everyone had noticed that it started with Nick. Well, after Nick anyway.

Greg, oddly enough, was the first to catch something. The first look, the first _real_ look. Not some bullshit façade being slapped on for case sake, one being peeled away rather.

Catherine and Warrick were already in the break room when Nick made his way in.

"You two seen Greg?" and then Greg found him, with full on speed and full body contact.

After peeling themselves from the floor, Greg quickly apologized.

"What the hell are you running for Greg?"

"Look!" he whispered conspiratorially

"At what?!" Catherine mocked conspiracy back when he never indicated the object(s) of his surprise.

Greg need not point or say another word when a noise broke through the lab.

Nick turned to Warrick and Catherine and simply shook his head in disbelief.

There it was again. This time it was joined by a similar, but deeper noise.

These sounds were coming from a layout room and caused several heads to poke out from doorways and from around corners. The entire nightshift was looking around at Catherine as she and the boys made their way slowly down the hall. They all looked to her for some sort of explanation for the noise.

When she and the boys stopped at the layout doorway, they didn't know what to say. Sara and Grissom were at opposite ends of the table in the center of the room. Evidence was scattered across it in some haphazard way that made sense only to them. Sara was bent over with her hands on her knees for support and Grissom was in a similar position. They were laughing…hard. Joking about something over a B&E case they were working.

Catherine was the first to talk "What's going on?"

"This just reminded us of something that happed a few years back." Sara said through her laughter

"This case we had." Grissom explained "Stupid guy…long story." and he waived them off, still laughing with Sara

Catherine turned back to the halls and confused faces and shrugged. The laughter was genuine it appeared. She sure as hell wasn't complaining. If years of…whatever was going on between the two of them could just be dropped and they could be laughing with each other, then no she definitely wasn't complaining.

The rest of shift was still confusing as their laughter continued to fill the halls. The next few days were filled with awkward tension, but it wasn't caused by the usual 'hide from Sara and Grissom, they're going to kill each other' reason. The awkwardness was caused by not remembering how to handle Happy Sara and Happy Grissom. It had been years since either of them had made an appearance around the lab. Those few days of awkwardness quickly turned to weeks and those weeks to months.

Everything seemed so pleasant, so normal. It was as if the past five years hadn't happened at all. They were working cases together again and talking regularly. Grissom was even going out with the group to breakfast again, even paying occasionally.

They were walking through the halls of the lab or sitting around smiling and laughing. Sara Sidle was smiling and laughing and Gil Grissom- generally the lab's shining example of jackassery when it came to women, one in particular- was the cause of it.

It was mind-blowing to the team how the two went from friends to mortal enemies at the drop of a hat and back to friends again.

"_They're back."_

"_It's about damn time."_

"_Didn't know how much more of them I could handle."_

"_Didn't know how much more of them she could handle."_

Then Brass happened. It was harder on them than Nick had been. Waiting around in the hospital was killing them all. They all knew it would be hardest on Grissom; he was the man's best friend after all. No comfort was enough for any of them. In waiting around the hospital, they happened to notice Grissom's comfort- Sara.

After shift when everyone was waiting on something to happen, they would notice Grissom and Sara. They were distanced from the group and standing that little bit closer to each other than every one else. They were talking loud enough for each other to hear but not loud enough for the others to. And the looks were absolutely unmistakable.

Brass eventually got better and went back to work and things fell back to a normalcy. Everyone was still getting along, but people were noticing things.

Looks between Grissom and Sara were deeper. 'Innocent' touches were more frequent and lasted longer. Distance between their bodies had never been far when they were getting along, but things were almost ridiculous. Comments were made that left people constantly guessing. _"Don't you know that gray hair can be very attractive?"_ Yeah, wonder why she said that.

Grissom soon began showing signs that the job was weighing on him but he and Sara showed no signs of stopping.

Then the rumors started. Grissom was leaving? Why, what had happened?

Being around the form of shit they were everyday and coping with it is doable, until you witness a man kill himself -live.

He wasn't acting different but Sara was. She still smiled and laughed everyday, but it was obviously for show. She was still enjoyable to work with but she definitely wasn't 'all there' sometimes.

When working on a case with her, you could often catch her in a daze. On the ride to and from scenes she would just stare out the window and would say hardly anything, if she even spoke at all.

The day was finally there, the day that Grissom was leaving. It was just a sabbatical, only four weeks. He said that he would be coming back, but most everyone doubted it.

That night Grissom came to the lab early and Sara came in late. Some saw their goodbye through the glass walls. They couldn't hear what was being said, but they really didn't need to. Sara's face said plenty to them; Grissom was messing something up.

After Grissom left in his cab, she sat in the locker room for almost an hour. No one went in, they all knew better. Something in Sara had broken the moment he had stepped in from the halls to say more to her.

Eventually Sara came out and headed through the halls with no particular destination in mind. The hour in the locker room still hadn't cleared her head but she couldn't just sit there anymore.

Their deal had been simple. That day at home was to be the last that they would speak of his leaving. They would avoid each other at the lab and he would just be gone for four weeks. Phone calls would be enough for them.

The son of a bitch had broken their deal. She tried being nice to him but then he said "_I'll miss you_." Just what was she supposed to say to that? Nothing was what she went with and for some reason she didn't feel bad at all when he finally left looking a little hurt. The whole reason for their deal was so that when he left _she_ didn't hurt.

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"Hey Sara." came cautiously from the group as she had eventually found her way to the break room

She didn't say anything back, just gave them a head nod in response.

They saw the look in her eyes, Sara was hurting again. She and Grissom hadn't come out and said that they were together, but everyone knew. Grissom leaving was hurting her and she was pissed. The rueful laughs, death stares and the Fear-of-God instilling voice that had brought many newbies to tears was surely back and all any of them could do was wait and hope that the return of Grissom was the answer.

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Well, I hope I did alright for you all…Once again I know it wasn't funny, but you'll get over it right? I'll make it up to you in chapter 5 of Assumptions if you're reading it…

Review for me and I'll love you forever, or at least like you more than I already do!

thegreatbluespoon---is sooo bored right now...anyone up for a game of foosball?


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